“Drowning in the Shallows”
“Digital Liturgies” — Week 4 Reflection
A Thumb with a Mind of Its Own
I remember opening and closing the Facebook app for the third time in a row as I sat on my couch a month or so ago. I didn’t consciously open the app. My thumb, seemingly with a mind of its own, set on the finger print ID to open my phone and then clicked the exact location of the app. The whole process being about a second. It was a habit, and a habit that I was trying to break. A few students and people in the church did a challenge to set new rhythms in our lives. And not using social media or screens for more than 90 minutes a week, was one of the challenges. I constantly found myself opening apps only to very quickly close those same apps. For a few weeks, it just happened over and over again. I played a phone game. I used Facebook and YouTube. It was an adjustment for sure. The mindless scrolling and the quick videos was just an accepted part of my life now.
But, when I realized that my body was just doing these things on their own purely of habit, I had to evaluate what these things meant to me. Why did I keep opening the app even though I knew I wasn’t using them? Why did I want to mindlessly scroll even though I knew it was not going to happen? Why were these technologies so ingrained with the way I lived? And, was this a bad thing? I wonder if you have ever thought about these things? Maybe you have tried to delete an app for a while, or caught yourself using an app way too much. We all know that these apps are not the best for us to some extent. But, why is that?
Engaging Technology with Wisdom
In the third chapter of Digital Liturgies, James is continuing his argument of how technology affects us. Where he has argued on the grand scale of how technology affects human society at large, James is furthering the argument to show how technology affects the intellectual side of us as well as the spiritual. He is not arguing that a specific kind of app or website is bad, but that the internet as a whole is changing both our intellect and our spirit. Every part of us is linked, our mind, body, and soul. Therefore, if the internet is changing the way we think, then the internet is also changing the way we live spiritually as well.
And I can see this clearly with the habits I have when it comes to technology especially when I look at my screen time. It reveals a lot about how I use my phone. Granted, I don’t think technology is bad, and James isn’t arguing that either. But, it is reshaping the way I think and view the world. It is changing my daily habits. It is shaping me in some way, whether good or bad or a combination. And as Christians we are called to be aware of the things that are affecting and shaping us. We are called to seek the truth. We are called to strive after all those things that will help us live more like Jesus, and flee from all those things that drive us away from him. We are called to be vigilant, and I appreciate James and the way he is revealing all of this for us.
It might be easy to just upend all technology and not deal with it, but I don’t think it is going anywhere anytime soon. Instead of rejecting, I want to engage with it wisely and faithfully. See how it will help, but also know how it can harm. Because I know that my habits have been affected, but they can be changed as well.
After three weeks on the challenge, I have found that I don’t do as much on my phone as I used to. I still go on Facebook and use YouTube. But, not in the same way. It is not just a reaction but a conscious choice. With a lot of faith, accountability, and hard work we can be changed for the better whatever technology may be doing to us.
